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Wednesday, May 15, 2019

India’s support for housing reconstruction tops Rs 2.90bn

Under the post-earthquake reconstruction partnership, the government of India has so far provided support of Rs 2.90 billion for rebuilding individual houses.

As per the Embassy of India in Kathmandu, the said amount has been reimbursed till date, while 50,000 identified beneficiaries in Nuwakot and Gorkha districts have benefited. Similarly, towards education sector, a $50 million grant has been allocated for reconstruction of 70 schools and two libraries in nine districts.

The Central Building Research Institute (CBRI), Roorkee, India had been appointed as project management consultant for the education sector on March 6. Likewise, reconstruction of eight schools — three in Gorkha and five in Nuwakot districts — commenced this year, according to a media release issued by the embassy.

Meanwhile, towards health sector, another $50 million grant has been allocated for reconstruction of 157 health facilities in 12 districts. Similarly, a $50 million grant has been allocated for reconstruction in cultural heritage sites and will be disbursed for rebuilding of 28 cultural heritage projects in eight districts.

India had committed to provide $1 billion ($250 million as grant and $750 million as concessional line of credit) for post-earthquake reconstruction of Nepal during the International Conference on Nepal’s Reconstruction (ICNR) held here on June 25, 2015. In February, 2016, a memorandum of understanding on utilisation of the grant was signed, allocating $100 million to support reconstruction of 50,000 private houses and $50 million each for health, education and cultural heritage sectors. Implementation MoUs were signed on August 24, 2017.

Two ExIm bank trainings have been conducted so far; first one was in Kathmandu from August 30 to 31, 2017 and the second one in Mumbai from January 16 to 18, 2018 to familiarise the officials of National Reconstruction Authority and other line ministries involved in reconstruction for utilisation of the line of credit.

Meanwhile, two projects — reconstruction of Harihar Bhawan at an estimated cost of $26.55 million and Balmiki Campus at an estimated cost of $1.74 million — will commence soon, according to the Indian Embassy.